Introduction to Mindfulness_349810_bookemon_ebook.pdf Coaching and Practising Mindfulness | Seite 161

Remember, your aim isn’t to get rid of the unpleasant experiences but rather to let go of the struggle and willingly accept them instead. However, people often do find, as a kind of side-effect, that unpleasant experiences may reduce as a result of acceptance strategies like this. Brief Mindfulness Script Step One: Mindfulness of the Here and Now Pause for a few moments to become more mindful of yourself. Notice how you’re currently using your body and your mind, right now, in the present moment. Take a step back from your thoughts and allow yourself to acknowledge and accept any unpleasant feelings you might be having, such as tension, pain, or anxiety. Be aware of yourself as the detached observer of your thoughts and feelings. Throughout life you’ve experienced literally millions of different thoughts and feelings and observed many different things. Your current thoughts and feelings are transient, just what you happen to be experiencing right now, sooner or later your attention will move on to other things, and then sometimes it may return to these experiences again. For now, just be aware of what you’re currently experiencing, from moment to moment, without evaluating it, analysing it, or interpreting it. You can have your eyes open or closed, be standing or sitting, it really doesn’t matter. Just allow yourself to pause and become mindful of your experience for a few moments. If your mind wanders, that’s fine, just acknowledge the fact and bring your awareness patiently back to the exercise you’re doing. Step Two: Grounding Attention in the Breathing Now gradually narrow your focus of attention on to the sensations of your breathing. Don’t try to change your breathing, don’t try to stop it from changing, just breathe naturally. Accept what your breathing feels like and make room for it to do whatever it wants, let go of any 160